Lihigaon / Lihi

Lihi is one of the prettiest villages on the Manaslu Circuit Trek although the photography below does not really do it justice. There is a single small tea-house in Lihi at the top of the village close to the mani wall gate as you leave the village.

Lihi Gaon (village) on the Manaslu Circuit Trek

Of note in Lihi is the school. Paraphrased from Phil Tweed who co-runs Hope Alliance, a charity that assists the school in Lihi:

My wife Jodi and I do a great amount of humanitarian work in Lhi, the village just prior to Hinang Gompa. We run the school in the village, support the two teachers there, we are building 5 new classrooms there, and have approval for a 150 bed hostel so that children from surrounding villages in the Manaslu area can get a primary education without having to leave the Nubri Valley. We run a child sponsorship program for all the children in the village who are enrolled in the school a lunch program for the children, and are also working with the Nepalese government in an effort to introduce high altitude crops such as Quinoa which will reduce the dependency on rice. We have another project called Dollars for Donkeys through which we are hoping to raise enough money for a donkey train for the village that will help bring in supplies (such as rice, which will mean the villagers won’t have to send their children to Arughat to purchase rice – which they do from the age of about 5) and be a business that could bring extra income. We also run Treks With Purpose – taking in teams to achieve specific project goals for the school and community there, which is why Jodi is there now. She is also going through to another school at Sama on this trip to deliver supplies.